Investigating the Effects of Doom Scrolling on Emotional States, Social Interaction Anxiety, and Sleep Disturbances in Adults

In the era of technology, doom scrolling – the habit of obsessively consuming distressing news on the internet – has increasingly worried many, particularly following significant global events. While prior studies have linked high news consumption to psychological distress, there are few comprehensive investigations on its impact on emotional well-being, social interactions, and sleep habits. This study employs a regression-based cause-effect design to investigate the impact of doom scrolling on these behavioural and psychological outcomes. A validated self-report questionnaire such as the Doom Scrolling Scale (Sharma et al. 2022), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) (Buysse et al. 1989), Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS) (Mattick & Clarke, 1998) and Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995) has been utilized to collect data from 392 participants of which Male= 125, Female= 252, Prefer not to say= 15. While accounting for potential confounding variables the predictive effects of doom scrolling frequency on emotional distress, social interaction quality and sleep disturbances was evaluated using regression analysis and correlations were found between the variables. The findings are anticipated to offer empirical evidence on the negative effects of doom scrolling specifically by informing mental health interventions, social media usage policies and digital wellness strategies. In the current information landscape, this study will add to the expanding corpus of research on digital consumption patterns and their psychological effects highlighting the importance of balanced media engagement.